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Strategy spent more buying back its own preferred stock than buying bitcoin

The company put $75.7 million into 950 coins last week and $174 million into discounted STRC shares, and the two programs are now drawing on cash balances that fell in the same filing.

The Investor · Invest desk

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What happened

  • Strategy bought 950 bitcoin for $75.7 million between September 14 and September 20 at an average of $79,670 a coin including fees, according to a Form 8-K filed Monday with the SEC.
  • The purchase took holdings to 846,000 BTC, bought for about $63.8 billion at an average cost of $75,416 a coin.
  • MSTR closed Friday at $153.92 after rising 16.4% on the week, leaving the stock roughly flat for the year and 54.2% lower over twelve months.

Why it matters

  • What it limits constraint With no at-the-market sales in the period, both programs drew on existing balances, so the pace of buying is limited by a $1.05 billion cash account and a $5.04 billion reserve already committed to dividends and interest.
  • Who has to decide decision Every $174 million tranche of STRC retired takes about $21 million a year of 12% preferred dividends off the books. That is the choice being made against buying roughly 2,180 more coins at $79,670.
  • Who's exposed exposure The $8.05 billion unrealised gain sits on a cost base of $75,416 a coin, so a bitcoin price in the mid-$70,000s erases the cushion that makes the cash-funded buyback look costless.

Strategy spent $174 million retiring 1.77 million STRC shares and $75.7 million on 950 coins in the week to September 20 [2][3]. For every dollar of bitcoin it bought it spent about $2.30 on its own preferred stock. The week before, it bought no bitcoin at all and put $139.3 million into STRC, according to Cryptopolitan [15].

STRC has a par value of $100 a share, pays a 12% annual dividend that took effect on July 1, 2026, and Strategy's Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program buys the shares when they trade below par [12][16]. At $174 million for 1.77 million shares, the average paid works out to about $98.31, a discount of roughly $1.69 a share, or about $3 million of face value captured [21]. That is a small number next to the $8.05 billion unrealised gain Cointelegraph calculated on the bitcoin at $84,925 [7]. The dividend saved is the larger prize: 1.77 million shares at $100 par and 12% is about $21 million a year of preferred distributions retired [25].

Both programs run off cash, and the cash is visibly moving. USD Cash fell to $1.05 billion from $1.30 billion a week earlier, a drop of nearly 20%. The USD Reserve slipped to $5.04 billion from $5.10 billion after $57.4 million went to preferred dividends and debt interest [9][10]. Strategy reported no sales under its at-the-market programs between September 14 and September 20 [11]. So the week's $249.7 million of buying was funded from balances.

Here the sources part company on how much room is left. Cointelegraph, citing the filing, puts $875.1 million as still available under the preferred repurchase program [28]; Cryptobriefing says the authorisation was doubled to $2 billion around September 8 and that roughly $1.19 billion remains [27]. Cryptobriefing records a pace of $150 million to $176 million a week for the weeks ending August 30 and September 7 [26]. At that rate, the gap between those two figures is about two months of buying.

Phong Le, Strategy's chief executive, said in July that there would be no resumption of bitcoin purchases until STRC was back to its $100 par value. He described the company as transitioning from a bitcoin treasury company to a "full digital capital platform" [17][18]. STRC traded at $98.85 in Monday's pre-market [29]. Purchases resumed anyway.

I think the equity is being priced as a bitcoin proxy while the cash is being managed as a credit book, and the two do not have to agree for long. MSTR closed Friday at $153.92, up 16.4% on the week, down 54.2% over twelve months [13]; the coins are worth about $71.9 billion against $63.8 billion of cost [6][5]. The counter-thesis is simpler and may be right: defending the preferred at par is how Strategy keeps the 12% funding channel open. A channel that stays open buys more bitcoin later than $75.7 million a week does now. What would prove me wrong is an at-the-market issuance week that funds both programs at once without the cash balances falling, because that would mean the dilution machine still works at these prices. Holdings sat at 845,050 BTC from August 31 until this purchase [14], and the record stack, 847,363 BTC on June 22 per BitcoinTreasuries, is 1,363 coins away [22].

What to watch

  • An at-the-market issuance week that funds both the coin buying and the STRC buyback without USD Cash falling.
  • Whether STRC trades back above $100 par. Under Phong Le's July condition, that would remove the stated reason for pausing coin purchases.
  • Reconciliation of the remaining preferred-repurchase authorisation: $875.1 million per the filing as reported by Cointelegraph against roughly $1.19 billion per Cryptobriefing.

Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.

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Reality

Evidence80
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Hype gap+10
Incentives55
Confidence78

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  1. [1]

    Strategy bought 950 BTC for $75.7 million between September 14 and September 20, 2026, at an average price of $79,670 a coin including fees, per a Form 8-K filed Monday with the SEC.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  2. [2]

    Strategy spent $75.7 million on 950 bitcoin in the week to September 20, 2026.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  3. [3]

    Strategy repurchased about 1.77 million shares of its STRC preferred stock for $174 million during the same week.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  4. [4]

    The purchase brought Strategy's holdings to 846,000 BTC.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  5. [5]

    Strategy's 846,000 BTC were acquired for about $63.8 billion, an average cost of $75,416 per coin including fees and expenses.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  6. [6]

    Strategy's bitcoin hoard is worth about $71.9 billion at about $85,000 per bitcoin, or about $8.1 billion over cost.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  7. [7]

    With bitcoin at $84,925, Strategy was sitting on an unrealized gain of about $8.05 billion on its holdings.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  8. [8]

    The bitcoin purchase was funded entirely from USD cash reserves, with no bitcoin sold.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  9. [9]

    Strategy's USD Cash balance fell nearly 20% to $1.05 billion from $1.30 billion a week earlier.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  10. [10]

    Strategy's USD Reserve declined to $5.04 billion from $5.10 billion after $57.4 million was used to pay preferred-stock dividends and interest on outstanding debt.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  11. [11]

    Strategy reported no sales under its at-the-market offering programs between September 14 and September 20, 2026.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  12. [12]

    STRC has a par value of $100 per share, and buying it back below that level is mathematically accretive, capturing the spread between market price and face value.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  13. [13]

    MSTR rose 16.4% last week, closing Friday at $153.92, about flat for the year, and is down 54.2% over the last 12 months.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  14. [14]

    Holdings had been at 845,050 BTC since Strategy announced an acquisition of 4,603 coins on August 31.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  15. [15]

    In the week before, Strategy bought no bitcoin and put $139.3 million into STRC, Cryptopolitan reported.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  16. [16]

    STRC pays a 12% annual dividend, a rate that took effect July 1, 2026.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  17. [17]

    CEO Phong Le said in July there would be no resumption of bitcoin purchases until STRC was back to its $100 par value.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  18. [18]

    Phong Le said the company was transitioning from a bitcoin treasury company to a "full digital capital platform."

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  19. [19]

    Bitcoin touched $85,000 on Monday for the first time since January and was up 5.3% over the past week.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  20. [20]

    Strategy leads 196 public companies holding bitcoin; the next largest is Tether-backed Twenty One with 43,514 BTC.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  21. [21]

    $174 million for 1.77 million STRC shares is an average of about $98.31 a share, a discount of about $1.69 to the $100 par, or about $3 million of face value captured.

    Derived Supported
  22. [22]

    Strategy held 847,363 BTC on June 22, 2026, the largest stack it has ever reported per BitcoinTreasuries, leaving it 1,363 coins short of the record.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  23. [23]

    For every dollar Strategy spent on bitcoin last week it spent about $2.30 on STRC buybacks.

    Derived Supported
  24. [24]

    The week's combined spending on bitcoin and STRC came to $249.7 million.

    Derived Supported
  25. [25]

    Retiring 1.77 million STRC shares at $100 par paying 12% removes about $21 million a year of preferred dividends.

    Derived Supported
  26. [26]

    The week ending September 7 saw $176.3 million spent on 1.81 million STRC shares, and the week ending August 30 added another $152 million.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  27. [27]

    Strategy launched its Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program on June 29, 2026 with a $1 billion authorization, doubled it to $2 billion around September 8, 2026, and had roughly $1.19 billion still available after the latest repurchase; cumulative buybacks under the program passed $1.12 billion.

    Reported ContestedView cited source
  28. [28]

    Strategy said it still had $875.1 million available under its preferred-stock repurchase program and $1 billion remaining under its MSTR share repurchase program.

    Reported ContestedView cited source
  29. [29]

    STRC rose 0.35% to $98.85 during Monday's pre-market trading.

    Reported ContestedView cited source
  30. [30]

    The STRC repurchase news sent STRC up 11.9% in a single session, per Cryptobriefing.

    Reported ContestedView cited source

Sources

5 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.

  1. cointelegraph.com

    1 article · September 21, 2026

    Strategy buys 950 Bitcoin for $76M, repurchases $174M in STRC
  2. cryptobriefing.com

    4 articles · September 21, 2026

    Strategy buys 950 Bitcoin for $76 million as holdings hit 846,000
  3. cryptopolitan.com

    1 article · September 21, 2026

    Strategy returns to bitcoin with 950 BTC after three weeks without a purchase
  4. decrypt.co

    1 article · September 21, 2026

    Strategy's Bitcoin Pile Nears June Record After $76M Purchase
  5. fortune.com

    1 article · September 21, 2026

    Michael Saylor’s Strategy buys Bitcoin again as surprise rally pushes price above $85,000

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